OnPay vs Gusto – A Complete Comparison

Why Compare OnPay vs Gusto?

I’ve been trying to tell people about how awesome OnPay is for a few years, but I’ve never been able to explain the differences between OnPay and Gusto. Gusto is a big name and I know people love it. But, everyone should know about alternatives and OnPay is a great one!

OnPay has actually been around much longer than Gusto, but OnPay didn’t do a lot of marketing to accountants until a few years ago. So, in an effort to bring more awareness to OnPay, I spent several hours of research and have put together this complete guide comparing OnPay vs Gusto.

I’ll tell you that both have their Pro’s. Are you ready to learn more?

OnPay vs Gusto – The Big Differences

#1 Price – OnPay is the Winner!

OnPay is the cheapest for what you get – hands down. Just comparing OnPay to Gusto Core, you are saving money. Assume you have 5 employees, OnPay would be $56/mo versus Gusto Core at $69/mo. That difference would save you $156 per year.

When it comes to HR & Benefits features, you actually have to compare OnPay to Gusto Concierge, which would be $209/mo for 5 employees.

#2 Integrations – Gusto is the Winner!

I will say that I was blown away when I went to Gusto’s integrations page. It is HUGE. I’m a little skeptical about how all of those integrations work and are they time-savers, but I don’t have knowledge of these either way. In the end, the integration list is beyond impressive.

#3 Other Notable OnPay vs Gusto Differences

I can’t group these into huge buckets, but I wanted to point these differences out because I think these will really help you determine which payroll solution will work best for your clients.

OnPay Wins!

  • Custom Reporting – OnPay has its own report designer. As far as I could tell, Gusto only has its own canned reports.
  • PTO Features – If you want most of these features, you are going to have to get Gusto’s middle package. This is all included in OnPay.
  • Farm & Agriculture Payroll – This is something that only OnPay does.
  • 500+ Employees – OnPay is the only one that offers that and it is still the same pricing of $36/mo and $4/mo for each additional active person.

Gusto Wins!

  • Direct Deposit Turnaround – Gusto can do Next Day or 2 Days. OnPay is “up to 4 Days”.
  • Automated Payroll – This is something only Gusto can do.

It’s a Tie!

  • Employee Onboarding – Both look to have a lot of features, but OnPay lets you create custom onboarding workflows.
  • Support – They look pretty similar, but you do get a direct line/dedicated person if you pay for Gusto’s highest subscription.
  • HR Forms – Most of the options are available through Gusto’s highest subscription level. You do get a lot with OnPay, but some of that is through one of their partners where you can get free templates and then upload them into OnPay.

The In-depth OnPay Vs Gusto Comparison

Here is a link to a spreadsheet that I’ve put together showing the differences between the two payroll solutions. It is a live spreadsheet so I’ll try to keep it updated as changes are made.

#1 The Comparison

You’ll see that I have one column for OnPay and then 3 additional columns for Gusto. That is because OnPay just has one price for everything. Gusto has different solutions based on the level of service and features that you need.

#2 The Segments

I have broken down the spreadsheet into 3 sheets to try to organize everything and make it easier to digest. Trust me – there is a TON of information in here. You’ll see:

  • Payroll & Admin Features
  • HR & Benefits
  • Integrations

Learn More About OnPay

I encourage you to take a look at OnPay and see for yourself what a great payroll solution it is. Click here to visit their website.

Affiliate Disclaimer

**I am an OnPay affiliate and may be compensated for any clicks or signups that I get from this article. That motivated me to write this article, but I hope you know me well enough to know that I tried to be as impartial as possible when gathering this information and comparing the two.**

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Cathy Iconis

Cathy Iconis, CPA is the creator and facilitator of the weekly tweetchat #QBOchat and the website QBOchat.com - a community for QuickBooks Online Users. She is also the founder of Iconis Group, an Intuit Top 20 Firm of the Future, that supports small businesses all over the United States with their bookkeeping needs. She is a five-time recipient of the prestigious CPA Practice Advisor 40 Under 40 Award, given annually to just 40 people nationwide.

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